Marian the Librarian will become Claudia the film star beginning Sept. 2, when Rebecca Luker joins the hit Broadway revival of Nine. Luker replaces Laura Benanti, who will leave the show to assume a role in Richard Greenberg's new drama The Violet Hour.

Rebecca Luker

Luker was last on Broadway in the Susan Stroman revival of The Music Man. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in that show, as she was for Show Boat. Her other roles include The Secret Garden and The Sound of Music. The moody French thespian Claudia will be a change for Luker, who is often seen playing sunny, wholesome heroines. In the role, she will get to lend her sterling soprano to what is arguably the best known song in the score, "Unusual Way."

Benanti plays her last performance Aug. 31. Co-stars Mary Stuart Masterson, Chita Rivera and Jane Krakowski continue with the show. Tony Award nominee Antonio Banderas is scheduled to leave the Tony Award-winning revival of Nine, Oct. 5. The Roundabout Theater Company intends to continue the new staging's run, a production spokesperson confirmed.

Banderas garnered much praise for his Broadway debut as the show's focal character Guido Contini. The actor — to be seen next in the Larry Gelbart penned Mexican revolutionary biopic "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself" (Sept. 7 on HBO) — will go into pre-production for the sequel to "The Mask of Zorro."

Nine began performances at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre March 21 and opened April 10 for a limited run originally scheduled through June 29.

Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway revival of Nine, plays at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, 230 West 49 St. Tickets are currently available for dates through Jan. 4,2004. For tickets, call (212) 239-6200 or click here.